My GR-1SF kit build

Hello!

I finally started assembling my kit. I did the dry assembly as recommended and I encountered some problems.
The neck socket in the body has a part that is broken, as I've already seen in some other build diaries. It doesn't matter much because when the neck fits, it hides this part.
Attachment 22811
Attachment 22812
With regard to the fitting of the neck in the body which, despite being very tight, in does not fit correctly is some points.
Attachment 22813
Attachment 22814
Attachment 22815

The neck fits very snugly on the socket, with no side movement at all.

Also, the alignment of the strings with the pickups is not totally correct, as 3 of the strings are aligned and the other 3 are not (I don't have pics of this).

There was a dent in the back of the neck, but i managed to get it out with steam (I used a damp cloth and an iron).

There were some parts on the body with a very deep grain. I tried to take pictures of it, but the light was not that good and the pictures don't show it.

I sanded it until my arm fell off, but it remained in some parts.
Is there a way I can fill it? Will it affect the staining process?

Can't wait to start staining the body...


Any recommendation is welcomed!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Katuki

There were some parts on the body with a very deep grain. I tried to take pictures of it, but the light was not that good and the pictures don't show it.

I sanded it until my arm fell off, but it remained in some parts.
Is there a way I can fill it? Will it affect the staining process?

Can't wait to start staining the body...


Any recommendation is welcomed!

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Can you post some photos please?

Honestly, this body should not have passed a quality control? Bummer for you man!

Here are some photos of that deep grain I talked about.

Attachment 22854
Attachment 22853
Attachment 22852

Can you see what I mean?

I sanded with P180 to P240 to P400.

How do I fill this? If I leave it as it is I don't think I'll have a mirror finish when I apply the clear coat...

Do I fill it before or after staining? I got a beautiful water based royal blue stain and I'm thinking of a black to blue burst (Probably, the guitar will be called LuCYANe :D )

Yeah, I think you will have to grain fill or you aren't going to be able to get a flat finish. Also make sure you are sanding with the grain. Going against the grain can lead to some of these tear outs.

Hi katuki if you using blue and black stains an ebony grain filler will do the job and enhance the grain

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Adam Barnes

Hi katuki if you using blue and black stains an ebony grain filler will do the job and enhance the grain

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Photo 1 looks like the grain rather than any abnormal stain and may or may not sand out.

Natural timber mate mixed in with some body stain colour is the way to go with grain filling the top otherwise what you fill in any other colour may end up highly visible.

Cheers, Waz

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

Thanks for the advice.

Which type of product you recommend me to use to fill these grain? Do I use it before or after staining?

Thank you!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Katuki

Thanks for the advice.

Which type of product you recommend me to use to fill these grain? Do I use it before or after staining?

Thank you!

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Timber mate which is readily available in most large hardware stores.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

These kits do seem to have some quality issues--half the fun is resolving these LOL

The best approach :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stuzl873213

These kits do seem to have some quality issues--half the fun is resolving these LOL

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thats the best part turning a dog into a lion 😫

Unfortunatly, I've been very busy with my work and I don't have much time to invest in my kit.

But in the last days I've done this:

- Wired the electronics
Attachment 23371

- Bought a headstock veneer, a pearloid blank pickguard sheet, a bone nut and a roller bridge (hope this last one fits on the stud holes...)

- Tried the color on a piece of scrap wood, and tried french polishing it.

Front
Attachment 23372

Side, back and neck
Attachment 23373

Can't wait to see what this will become... Hope those infamous glue marks don't show too much...

That's going to be a real nice colour combination!

My build continues and the big doubts start to show up...

But before I ask for your help, let me show you the progress.

I glued an ebony veneer to the headstock, and made the holes.
Attachment 23404
Attachment 23405
Attachment 23406

It was not a very difficult task.
I used PVA glue. After gluing and clamping the veneer to the headstock, I waited overnight and then trimmed the excess with a heavy duty pair of scissors and sanded straight until the headstock. Then drilled the holes and made the truss rod opening.

After that, I finally painted the guitar.

First the neck.
I put a thin stripe of tape around the headstock to obtain a stripe of natural color.

Attachment 23407

And I was pleased with the results.

Attachment 23408
Attachment 23409

I used a water based stain and a cotton rag.

That looks really neat.

Then the body.

Brown on the back.
Attachment 23410

Blue on the front. I used a water based blue stain from crimson guitars (phthalo blue), again with a cotton rag.
Then I tried a burst effect with a black stain.

Attachment 23411

Attachment 23412

Some parts of the body don't take the stain the same way than others, so it took me some time to get an even color trough the whole guitar body.

And there's those infamous glue marks on the pot hole near the switch hole... :/

And on one of the sides, there were some parts that didn't take the stain so well, like this one:

Attachment 23413

I then used a razor to scrape away the stain from the binding. It's very easy for your hand to slip and scratch the wood. I was very careful with this step, and because of that, it took me forever to do it... (the f-holes... that was hard...)

And now the doubt I really hope someone can help me with...

The next step will be to glue the neck to the body. But when I insert the neck on the guitar body and push it firmly, it leaves some gaps as I showed previously in this diary. I was thinking that I didn't need to do any major adjustments to it, but after the measurements, I became a little worried.

The alignment with the nut is straight but I don't think the angle is correct.

Let me show you.

Here's a picture of the alignment. I attached two strings (not guitar strings but I stretched them to get some tension and see if the alignment was correct).

Attachment 23414

Attachment 23415

Now, about the angle. I put my straight edge against the fretboard and, with the tune-o-matic bridge as lower as possible, it hits the bridge.

But worse. It hits in the upper side of the neck way less than it hits in the lower side.

Attachment 23416
(Upper side. It hits the bridge slightly)

Attachment 23417
(Lower side. It hits way more on the bridge.)

Now, what should I do?

I thought of an angled wood shim between the neck an the body but the neck fits so snugly on the body... To get room to rotate the neck and correct this, I'd have to file open so much the neck slot that I'm afraid I'll ruin it...

Can someone help, please? If I can't correct this I'll be able to have low action on only one side of the fretboard...

Hey Katuki, A shim seems like the easiest and best option. That won't affect the fit of the neck in the pocket as it will sit on the bottom of the pocket and only serve to raise the base. Now do you have access to wood working tools? A decent disc or belt sander will help dramatically in this endevour.

By the way, this really isn't as dire as it seems. It's fiddly, but not too difficult to fix.

I don't have to a disk or a belt sander but If I know what to do, I'd go to a carpenter's workshop and try to borrow some tools...

Hi Katuki from the photos it looks that you are measuring on the fretboard, are you taking into consideration the height of your nut string seat as part of your calcs of string height. Also its hard to tell from the photos but will your TOM studs go in any further they look like they have a touch more that they could possibly go down onto the guitar (but could just be the photos). I reckon you may be ok without having to do too much.

vh2580, when I tested the alignment of the neck, I attached 2 tuning machines and two yarns to them, and place them over the bridge with the necessary tension as if they were strings. What I found out was a high action, knowing that the bridge was on the lower position possible. I think this means that, even though with real strings it would be playable, I would never be able to lower the string height...

Here are the pictures of a straight edge against the fretboard from a closer look:

Upper side
Attachment 23418

Lower side
Attachment 23419

And the bridge studs are all way in and from one of the sides you can see this:

Attachment 23420

Help...

Hi Katuki

Have attached some pictures to explain. (apologies for the exceptionally sweat covered guitar)
Have a TOM bridge guitar so similar arrangement and neck geometry as your hollowbody.
Have pictured the action on this guitar which is not super low but not bad (I pick this one hard) and has room to adjust down.
The string geometry does relate to the fretboard but not entirely directly. You need to take into account the height of the string in the nut as part of your setup and if I lay the ruler on the frets as you have in your photos the ruler sits on the top of the bridge at the base of saddles not on top of the saddles as in yours. I think if you clamped your neck in and ran both E strings over under a bit of tension I think you may be ok action wise.

Thank you for your clear explanation.
I'll try to clamp the neck, attach some strings and adjust the nut height. Then see if the action is high or not.
But is it normal that one side of the neck is higher than the other? Or you believe it is the nut that's causing this diference?

I would look at it clamped and with the two strings on and adjust bridge to see what action is potentially going to be like. The guitar string will act differently to the twine. From there if you take some photos You can see if anything needs to be adjusted or not as far as the actual neck fit/angle. This will only be indicative but confirm if ok to continue with build ie gluing etc..
Any other adjustment of the nut etc. would come once your finalising the setup.

I'll try to do it, although it means that I have to screw the bigsby like bridge to the body so I can give some tension to the strings. I was hoping I would only have to do that after clear coating the guitar...

Hello every one!

I finished building it! Finally!

It still needs a setup, and some minor details (such as a truss rod cover and pickguard engraving).
But here's a pic of it.
Attachment 27578

The color is exactly what i wanted.

Later I'll show you the process.

Hope you like it!
Cheers!

Well done mate.
Looks great

Very nice work Katuki!

That's a fine thing!

Very well done. Great job.

Wow that looks fab!

Stunning, well done

Looks great!